The patriotic fervor surrounding the Fourth of July celebrations a couple of days ago made me think of Giordano Bruno. Wait! I can almost hear a collective ”Who in the world is that?” Well, Bruno was an academic, writer, and philosopher of the first rank. He was also a defrocked Dominican friar whose teaching and writing got him into hot water with the Inquisition. In fact, he was in so much trouble that early in the morning of Feb. 17, 1600 he was burned at the stake in Rome for the religious crime of heresy. This event is important to twenty-first century Americans because of the perspective it offers.

I realize that most of us these days are worried about whether our country is governable; whether our financial system can recover; or whether terrorists will make our lives miserable, all perfectly reasonable concerns. But we should pause a few seconds to realize that despite the ideological and partisan battles enveloping us daily nobody is going to be burned at the stake for something written or uttered. People can make outrageously provocative statements without incurring anything more severe than a return blast of invective.

Historically this has not always been the case in our country. Only 92 years after Bruno’s enforced demise 20 persons were convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts and executed (19 were hung, one was pressed to death). The seventeenth century Massachusetts Bay Colony was a repressive theocracy that did not permit freedom of expression.

Freedom to believe and articulate may seem like a given to us, accustomed as we are to a distended First Amendment. Reduction of Supreme Court interpreted First Amendment rights is deemed an improbability by most, and yet... These days there are too many instances when those espousing ideas others deplore are isolated, even threatened. This is a slippery slope. The slope is made more slippery as privacy in this technological age becomes easier to invade. We need to be aware that demonization can easily become persecution.

Our Founders, who realized they lived in an imperfect society, had the dream of a country that would one day enjoy freedom of expression. By and large that dream has been attained. It is no little accomplishment. Freedom to express constitutes a golden foundation block that has glowed like a beacon throughout the globe. It is a possession so rare that few in the course of recorded time have ever enjoyed it. No effort should be spared to ensure its preservation.

Our citizens have celebrated the birth of their nation 246 times. As these renewals stretch into the future, we should remember the fate of Giordano Bruno. It highlights the value of our own accomplishments. It reminds us that despite numerous difficulties we are fortunate to live in this country at this time. But it also serves as a warning for those tempted to weaken our right to free expression, a keystone supporting the edifice we have built so painstakingly.